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fter two years at the helm of Southeast Asia’s largest economy, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo continues to face allegations that Indonesia is punching below its weight on the international arena.

Part of the reason Indonesia remains a relatively unknown middle power on the global stage might be due to the way foreign policy is shaped under Jokowi’s direction — or lack thereof.

“Compared to SBY, I believe the current government has a much lower [foreign policy] profile,” House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Fadli Zon said on Tuesday, referring to former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Unlike the internationalist flavor of foreign policy that Yudhoyono championed during his reign, Jokowi has puzzled the diplomatic community with his fragmented approach to global politics, leaving most of the legwork to Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi.

But even Retno’s influence has been questioned, as the inclusion of non-foreign ministry actors into the decision-making process further complicates the chain of command.

“Ultimately Jokowi calls the shots,” said Evan Laksmana, a researcher at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

“But when it comes to influential voices of foreign policy, unfortunately the President does listen to other members of his inner circle outside the Foreign Ministry,” he said without elaborating.

In late 2015, President Jokowi was criticized for delegating 12 ministers the additional task of following up economic partnerships and investment plans, a move that critics have considered overstepping the authority of the Foreign Ministry.

In its actual implementation, these liaison ministers would represent the state at diplomatic occasions such as foreign national days and act as a go-between for country partners at times when they need to communicate directly with the Presidential Palace.

Such a move would not be warranted if Jokowi had a dedicated team on foreign policy within the rungs of the palace, as was the case in the previous government.

Unlike Jokowi, Yudhoyono appointed Teuku Faizasyah to stand in as spokesperson and information gatekeeper on international affairs.

While inside sources say Jokowi still relies on his top diplomat Retno to have the final say on global matters, things become less obvious when the government tackles cross-cutting issues that are likely to brush against competing interests.

On the allegation of past human rights violations in Papua, for example, the spotlight was on Luhut B. Panjaitan, who at the time was coordinating political, legal and security affairs minister.

In dealing with increasing pressure from the international community to resolve the Papua issue and subdue the brewing separatist movement in the resource-rich island, Luhut took the bold step of promising to resolve these issues by the end of this year.

On the foreign policy front, Luhut went on a tour of the South Pacific, accompanied by several regional heads from Papua, Maluku and Nusa Tenggara — representing Indonesia’s Melanesian population — in an effort to consolidate support in the region.

Follow-up efforts managed to prevent the separatists from crucially joining the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) — at least temporarily.

There were also too many talking heads in the ongoing hostage crisis in the Sulu Sea south of the Philippines, which had become a regional hotbed of terrorist activity.

After being hit by a string of kidnappings involving the notorious Abu Sayyaf militant group and its offshoots, Retno’s ministry launched its own rescue efforts but eventually had to deal with the military and several non-state actors, like retired Army general Kivlan Zein, getting involved.

Retno used the catch-all phrase “total diplomacy” to explain the seemingly disjointed rescue efforts.

Eventually a crisis center was formed at Luhut’s former office to serve as the sole gateway for rescue efforts, while Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu and Indonesian Military commander Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo worked to implement a trilateral security agreement in the region. Currently two Indonesian hostages remain captive.

International relations expert Beginda Pakpahan from the University of Indonesia (UI) noted that “as long as all efforts were coordinated by the Foreign Ministry and not taken over by other relevant agencies”, everything would be fine. (sha)
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Ina Parlina and Nurul Fitri Ramadhani also contributed to the report.